The focus on this week’s lecture was on the question of Patrick White’s religious outlook. His novel certainly makes many references to things that may be seen as spiritual or sacred, but he also gives conventional religion a rather scathing treatment, especially in the closing scenes of the novel where Stan Parker identifies God in a gob of spittle!
How to understand White’s religion? David Marr does a beautiful job (click) in this short video
Blog Topics for this week:
You are of course welcome to go back and chose another topic from the first session on Patrick White and you are also permitted to create your own topic!
1/ CRITICAL Describe in your own words what you understand to be the nature of Patrick White’s belief.
2/ CREATIVE Write a letter to Patrick White telling him what you think of his sense of the sacred.
3/ CRITICAL Describe how Stan and Amy’s grandson on the last page of the novel embodies a hope for the future.
4/ CREATIVE Describe an experience that you have had in the bush where you have felt that there is more than simply material reality around you.
Michael Griffith: Home Page- Literature and Life Summer 2023 